CSAT (IAS Prelims) 2011: Result and Cut Off Marks

The first CSAT is over. The result is out, and subsequently UPSC has already tested candidates for Mains. The discussion of Cut Off seems to be futile in this scenario. However, it may prove to be worthy of a look to those aspirants who are going to appear in this year's CSAT on 20th May 2012.

The cut off in 2012 was exactly according to my expectation. Lots of students commented in adverse manner for predicting such a 'high' cut-off. But, the fact is you will have to face the reality at appropriate time. Living in utopia is like enjoying a fool's paradise. Combined cut off in CSAT 2011 had crossed the sacred mark of 200. That seems to be high, but that was that.

I would like to suggest all aspirants that try your best to score more than 220 marks. Only this level of marks will make you safe. The sense of safety gives huge advantage in terms of preparation for Mains.

And, contrary to popular perception there is a provision of sectional cut off in CSAT. Without sectional cut off UPSC will not expect to select balanced aspirants for Mains. Obviously, there isn't any sort of sectional cut off in Mains, but it is here in Prelims for obvious reason.

The cut off in first paper was far much lower than second one. First paper requires consistent practice and presence of mind.

The first ever Civil Services Aptitude Test (CSAT) is over. According to media reports, quite a large number of students skipped the test because of the uncertainty of the paper. Seeing the question papers, we may say that those who skipped the test have lost a bright chance. There was nothing in the paper which can take even a well guarded excuse from a student to skip the test.

General Studies:

As expected, the question setters have thrown a bit of surprises too in this year’s GS paper. UPSC had given a hint about this in syllabus. They had mentioned Ecology specifically and here we come. Ecology made an umbrella impact on the question paper. With just 100 questions to answer in 2 hours, what should one expect the optimum cut-off for GS? In fact, it has become a sort of habit for UPSC to surprise candidates (read mushrooming coaching institutes) in this paper. Coaching institutes will again going to say rubbish stuffs about the paper. Seeing closely, what we find is a similar level of undercurrent in this paper. This undercurrent has been maintained by the UPSC since 2008 Prelims. They want to check the seriousness of a candidate for Civil Services Mains Exam, and what should be a better way to check than to ask indirect questions from current affairs. Wide reading habit has become all the more necessary. More than 80% of questions were from Current Affairs; let me repeat more than 80%. Repetition of this fact is required since no one is going to take it as it is. Coaching institutes prepare students for current affairs without understanding the nature of events. UPSC has stopped asking direct events for its questions papers, but rather it has started to ask questions indirectly related to those very events. Indian Economy, Polity, and Science questions were all drawn from Current Affairs. Don’t see events, scratch a bit and you will find the source of questions. Same can be termed as for Environment and Ecology section. Dude, The Hindu group has again rocked the General Studies. Frontline has again become the star for Civil Services Preparation. Students of History and Geography are wondering about the paper. But, only they should be blamed as they simply failed to read the trend.

My take on Cut off:The no. of questions have been drastically reduced and without any negative tweaking of time allotted. So, what should be an appropriate level? Some even wonder about the logic of Sectional Cut-off in the Prelims, but let me say you that it is. In fact, it should be. GS is the very base of weeding out non-serious candidates from serious one. Sectional cut-off for GS made it easy for them. In spite of the reduced no. of questions in the paper, I think the cut-off for GS should not cross the barrier of 50 [No. of correct questions]

See the following Keywords:

- Carbon Credits – Copenhagen Summit

- Demographic Dividend – Census 2011

- Inflation Base Effect – Regular news on Inflation

- Odisha river – Bhitarkarnika, a special report on Bhitarkarnika was there in the Hindu recently, however this was quite simple question

- Ozone Hole – Mentioned in the PM special council report on Climate Change

- Current Account Deficit – Kaushik Basu had given a long lecture on this subject which was reported by the Hindu with same points which have been given here at options

- Fiscal Stimulus : A hot keyword after the financial recession. There is lots of news in the media about Govt. reluctance to continue with fiscal stimulus.

- Visit by Commonwealth national – Ans, Consumption. Interestingly, the point was discussed in an editorial in the Economic Times during October 2010.

- Coal Combustion at Thermal Power Plants – Discussed by R. Ramachandran in Frontline.

- Food Inflation – a hot issue of current affairs

- Biosphalt, union budget – Refer Frontline the budget issue

- Satellite – R Ramachandran discussed the whole issue of satellite in a very lucid manner on his article on Devas Scam [ISRO], refer Frontline recent issue on corruption.

- FDI and FII – Quite easy question. Everyone knows the difference who reads newspaper.

- Aam Aadmi Bima Yojna – Direct Current Affairs

- Radio Communication Ionosphere – Refer the above mentioned article of R. Ramachandran from Frontline on ISRO Scam

- Bt brinjal – Direct Current Affairs

And, many more........

Well, as I said, almost 80 questions of GS were from Current Affairs Section, albeit not what ALS, Vajiram and Ravi, and other business minded institutes think.

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Lots of candidates made a blunder in their preparation for CSAT. They followed the advice of MBA people. The introduction of CSAT spawned too much confusion and MBA coaching institutes sensed a great opportunity in this whole imbroglio. One should have kept this in mind that CSAT is not for the selection of Manager or for that matter a Banking Professional. The recruitment phase is for the selection of Civil Servants. The pattern of the question paper on Aptitude shows exactly the same. The decision making and problem solving skills of candidates have been aptly tested by the UPSC in this section. What we find was just an extension of GS paper in this section. Wide reading habit is also required to tackle this paper efficiently if one see the passage section. Students from Arts background were quite frightened by the prospects of question paper, but there were nothing special that one needs to be trained by TIME or Career Launcher, or for that matter give lump sum fee to IAS coaching to prepare this section in an efficient manner. One should remember that the UPSC will never make it an easy affair for Engineers and MBAs. That’s what happened with this paper. Questions were tricky in nature but the orientation was quite different.

My take on Cut-Off:

Students skipping the paper will not make any impact on the cut-off of this section. But, don’t forget about surprises and the arrival of this ‘cool’ tsunami for the first time. The Cut-Off for this section should hover around 55-60 [No. of correct questions].

If you have crossed the whole mark of 110 [No. of correct questions] in both papers then you should in and ‘do what you want to do for one week before driving the whole of your energy for Mains’.